Nuclear inspectors fail to reach deal in Iran

Source: Al Jazeera

UN inspectors have returned to Vienna from talks in Tehran with no deal on access to Iran's nuclear sites and no date for new talks. "Despite its many commitments to do so, Iran has not negotiated in good faith," said a Western diplomat accredited to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna who was not at the talks. "It appears that we now have to ask ourselves if this is still the right tactic."

The deadlock is a chilling signal for a wider effort by six major powers to get Iran to curb a programme that they fear could give it the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. The IAEA and Iran "could not finalise the document" setting out terms for an IAEA inquiry into possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear programme, chief UN inspector Herman Nackaerts said at Vienna airport after returning from Iran. He said no new date had been set for talks that had shown no progress in more than a year, adding, "Time is needed to reflect on the way forward."

The United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany are due to meet Iran for separate talks in Kazakhstan on February 26 to tackle a decade-old row that has already produced four rounds of UN sanctions against Iran. But the Islamic Republic denies any military dimension to its work and is asking for acknowledgement that it is entitled to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes. With Iran heading towards presidential elections in June, it may make it hard for any official to be seen as making concessions to foreign powers, especially the US and Israel.

"On behalf of the Iranian nation, I say that whoever thinks that the Iranian nation would surrender to pressure is making a huge mistake and will take his wish to the grave," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday, according to state television.

1. I would like to

know, given the history of the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia, would you as the leader of Iran capitulate to their demands on the nuclear issue? I do remember China also went ahead with their nuclear weapon developments. They can't even stop North Korea. So why should anybodyelse capitulate when they can't even stop others? Even Israel want open up their facilities. That same question should be asked of the IAEA too.

2. Our treatment of Iran . . .

Our treatment of Iran doesn't seem exactly even-handed, does it? Of course, we in the United States have had a grudge against revolutionary Iran since their take-over of our embassy in the 1970's. They, on the other hand, have never had anything good to say about us, because we supported the Shah right up until the day he fled the revolution which deposed him.

Iran's future is balanced on a knife edge right now. A nuclear weapon capability would possibly give them great leverage in foreign relations, but will the U.S. (not to mention Israel) even allow such a capability to become a reality? Iran's giving up their quest for nuclear technology might mean the lifting of economic sanctions, but at what price and with what assurances anything meaningful would change? They certainly need to contemplate their next moves very carefully indeed.